A decision on the future of policing in Surrey, British Columbia’s second largest city by population, is expected today.
Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth is set to announce the province’s call on whether to approve Mayor Brenda Locke’s request to stop the years-long transition to the Surrey Police Service (SPS) and revert to the local RCMP detachment.
It’s the second such decision that Farnworth will make in four years, with Locke hoping to reverse previous mayor Doug McCallum’s efforts to establish a municipal force in the city just southeast of Vancouver.
While policing is under municipal jurisdiction, cities need provincial approval to change their police service under the B.C. Police Act. Farnworth has said the province would take into consideration multiple factors in making its decision.
“The policing transition in Surrey is unprecedented and complex and requires a full and in-depth analysis,” he said in January, when he asked for further details from the city on staffing and the number of employees that would be affected.
Reversing the transition from the RCMP to the SPS was one of Locke’s key promises leading up to her election last October. She currently holds a slim majority in council that approved the decision to formally ask the province for a reversal.
The decision to reverse the transition has led to political mudslinging from all sides of the policing debate, with Locke alleging “political mischief” against the SPS, the SPS alleging the city has misled the public about costs, and mayors across the rest of Metro Vancouver criticizing how Locke has talked about the issue.
More than 300 SPS officers have been deployed alongside RCMP in the city, which has a population of almost 570,000 according to the latest census, since the force was officially created in August 2020.
Keeping both police forces running at the same time at partial staffing levels is costing the city an additional $8 million a month, according to staff estimates released earlier this year, and is the main driver of historically high property tax increases.
